The Montessori program in Santa Caterina Pinula offers creative, hands-on basic education, along with social and life skills training for children 3 through 6 years of age.

Santa Catarina Pinula is a municipality located within Guatemala City, Guatemala. The overall total population is 1.2 million of which 77,203 are between the ages of 3 and 6 years old (6%). The area is generally considered affluent and upper to upper middle class. That being said, between 45-65% percent of the urban population is considered to be living below the poverty line of $3.20 a day.

In 2008, Orphan Outreach set up a Guatemalan nonprofit (NGO) called Asociación Niñez con Futuro (ANIFU), in Guatemala to manage its programs and partnerships. In 2021, discussions began between ANIFU and the Mayor’s Office in the Municipality of Santa Catarina Pinula (MSCP) with the hope of designing and implementing a Montessori program for children, ages 3 to 6 years, from low-income and vulnerable families.

Because of ANIFU’s significant experience in the design, implementation, and management of Montessori classrooms in Chimaltenango and because the MSCP mandate stipulates the obligation to provide services and projects to promote community development and child/family welfare, ANIFU and MSCP partnered on this special initiative: “Pilot Project – Montessori in the Aldea Cuchilla del Carmen.”